Given the current political climate, it’s not hard to image why the nearly 70 year old book is back on the bestseller list. It’s so popular, in fact, that Amazon was sold out for a few days. If you want a copy, they have them back in stock (though there’s a note that it may take a day or two longer than normal to ship).

While 1984 seems to be the go-to text for dystopian, authoritarian fiction, what’s your recommendation for work in this genre?

Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, while dated, has much to recommend it, and John Brunner penned a couple of novels with dystopian elements. Both Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up include some spot-on predictions alongside ones that didn’t quite work out (Sheep takes place around 1980, while Stand is set in 2010).

Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale is receiving a TV miniseries adaptation. Like 1984 is goes over the top, as satire does, but remains chillingly relevant.

BlackadderFebruary 1, 2017 @ 7:51 pm

The words Clinton and Abama are no longer in the 14th edition of the NewSpeak dictionary. Trump has always been President and we are have always been at war with EurAsia (Middle East)